Fugitive surrenders to MCSO at Ukiah hotel

After a stand-off with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Walter K. Miller was arrested about 6:25 Wednesday evening at the Best Western at 555 S. Orchard Ave. Deputy Orell Massey, Inspector Andy Alvarado and Detective Andy Porter escort Miller to a Sheriff's Office vehicle.

After a two-day search, authorities on Wednesday arrested Walter Kristopher Miller, 42, of Ukiah, who allegedly shot at a Mendocino County sheriff's deputy during a high-speed chase south of Ukiah Monday night.

The Best Western hotel on Orchard Avenue was under surveillance for several hours after the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office got a tip around noon that Miller was at the hotel, Sheriff Tom Allman said Wednesday evening. The Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force confirmed at about 2:15 p.m. that Miller was at the hotel, according to Allman. Detectives got a search warrant for his room, a SWAT team was deployed and agents spoke to him on the room's phone, according to Allman.

"We entered negotiations, and he made a request, and said he would give himself up when his parole officer from Sonoma County arrived on scene," Allman said Wednesday night.

He said it wasn't known Wednesday night whether Miller was armed inside the hotel room. Two MCSO negotiators were seen entering and leaving the scene throughout the afternoon and evening, and shortly after 5 p.m., Miller agreed to surrender when his parole agent arrived, Allman said. At 6:11 p.m., two state parole agents from Sonoma County arrived.

"Within five minutes after they arrived, he came out of his room with his hands up," Allman said.

At 6:27 p.m., Miller was walked out to a sheriff's patrol car in handcuffs without a struggle. Allman drove him to the Mendocino County Jail, where he was to be booked possibly under a no-bail hold on suspicion of attempted murder, felony evading, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Monday night shooting.

Miller was sought for two days after he allegedly fired five or six rounds from what authorities believe was an AP9 9 mm semi-automatic pistol with a 30-round magazine from the passenger window of a 1995 Thunderbird. The driver, Christopher Skaggs, 30, of Redwood Valley, was arrested in Ukiah Tuesday morning.

Orchard Avenue was closed around 3 p.m. Wednesday between Gobbi Street and Kings Court, and some area businesses were evacuated or closed while SWAT agents stood at the hotel's doors on all sides of the building and a California Highway Patrol helicopter circled overhead.

People were standing around on the blocked street and near the temporarily closed-off businesses, snapping pictures with their camera phones and watching as agents came and went.

"The SWAT team rolled in like Hollywood," said Cole Cupples of Cupples Construction at the site of the new Ukiah Unified School District building going up on Orchard Avenue. He estimated that the agents arrived at about 3:15 p.m. Allman said the construction workers weren't evacuated, but were asked to come down from the roof where they were working.

Nick Patel, who owns the Best Western on Orchard Avenue, waited and worried for hours outside because his son, who manages the hotel, was inside.

Hotel guest Eric Moul of Sacramento said a "very polite" agent wearing a bullet-proof vest knocked on his door at about 4:20 p.m. and told him to leave his room "just as a precaution." He walked outside holding a paperback novel and waited with other bystanders in the parking lot.

"They said a guy with a gun on the second floor was threatening to take a pot shot at someone," Moul said.

Allman said other businesses in the area, including a day care, the post office and the Social Security office, were asked to keep employees inside. Authorities contacted the businesses at about 5 p.m., when Orchard Avenue was reopened to traffic, to tell them how to leave the area, Allman said.

At about 4:29 p.m., a woman whose identity wasn't released was seen walking out of the hotel in handcuffs and was taken away in a patrol car. Allman said she was an acquaintance of Miller's who was questioned and later released, but was not arrested on charges.

The shooting incident started when a sheriff's deputy stopped the T-bird Skaggs was driving at 9:49 p.m. Monday for having expired registration tags in the 1200 block of South State Street, south of Washington Avenue, in Ukiah. Skaggs allegedly sped away south just as the deputy walked up to the driver's window.

In the ensuing chase, Skaggs drove between 80 and 90 miles per hour until he slowed to between 50 and 60 miles per hour on Highway 253, the MCSO reported previously. The car swerved repeatedly into the oncoming lane on blind curves.

Miller allegedly leaned out the passenger's-side window in the 900 block of Highway 253 and shot at the pursuing deputy several times from a distance of about 35 feet, stopping when the gun jammed, according to Allman. One of the bullets hit the patrol car's radiator and disabled it. Deputies from throughout Mendocino County responded to look for the car, along with the California Highway Patrol, Ukiah Police Department, Cloverdale Police Department and Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

The T-bird was found abandoned in a driveway leading to a home in the 6000 block of Highway 253, according to the MCSO, and inside were items reported stolen from a Van Arsdale Road home in Potter Valley earlier the same evening. Among the stolen items but not in the abandoned car were five guns, including three handguns, a rifle and a shotgun, Allman said previously. Authorities also found ammunition in the T-bird.

"There are still outstanding stolen guns from Monday," Allman said Wednesday night. The hotel room was being searched Wednesday night, and information about what was inside was expected to be released today.

Skaggs was also wanted in an unrelated burglary and robbery incident reported to the Sheriff's Office Feb. 19, and was out on bail for an unrelated Nov. 14 incident in which the California Highway Patrol arrested him on suspicion of felony evading. He was booked at the Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, felony evading, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and held under $300,000 bail.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.